Aurelio La Valette
Formidable as the Echani art of body reading was, as useful as Jaidan had always found it, there were always limitations. In this case, while he had all the information he needed to anticipate Aurelio's movement, he still needed to process that information in time to do anything useful with it. And he had to admit, his opponent had found a way to exploit that here. A move that Jaidan would never have considered using himself, nor expected from a being with any instincts of self-preservation, had led to a moment of confusion. And confusion had led to a near-fatal delay.
As it was, while he was committed to his strike, he wasn't committed with his entire body. This was the beauty of both Makashi and Soresu, the reason why he had eventually settled on a sort of hybrid of the two as his default style. Efficiency, no movement of effort wasted on a weapon which largely bypassed the need for brute force so long as you could get it into its proper position and keep it there. Thus, Jaidan's attack had been swung from the elbow rather than the shoulder, and the engagement of his legs and torso was minimal. This meant that, when he comprehended what was coming, he was able to lurch backward while still executing his strike. But the movement was
embarrassingly awkward.
And it was insufficient. He was able to avoid much of the blade which came at him, but not all, and there was no mistaking the unpleasant jolt which surged through his abdomen the slash. And immediately, his mind went into overdrive trying to determine what this would have meant in a real fight.
Would Aurelio's maneuver have even worked in a real duel, against a lightsaber at full power? Jaidan's swipe would have burned straight through muscle, ligaments, nerves and bone alike, but it was too shallow to actually sever the entire limb. The arm would certainly have been completely useless afterward, but if the grip had held for just a moment, the momentum of the swing might indeed have been enough to carry the strike home. And as for Jaidan...that was difficult to say. A grazing hit wouldn't have been enough to kill him on the spot, but he'd have been in serious need of prompt and competent medical attention. He believed he could have fought on for a time in hopes of being alive to seek out that aid, but certainly not at full capacity, and for how long?
So, maybe. It was drastic, and it was hard to say if any actual advantage would be gained, but that might actually have worked. If a scenario arose in which an opponent was willing to sacrifice themself to take him off the board, that might have been just the way to go about it. And it had indisputably taken him off guard.
Impressive. And humbling. Therefore, valuable indeed.
"An...interesting approach," Jaidan offered after a moment, blinking several times as he processed that.
"If you insist, I suppose we could try play acting out the rest of the encounter, but I don't see how we would ensure realism. Perhaps instead, we could call that a draw and give it another go?"
